With collecting modern art either you are going to get it fantastically right or woefully wrong unless you develop a model of analysis how to pick and choose contemporary art for investment and wait for your sleeping seeds to grow. Whether you are living in Paris or London or any major city where artists congregate, weekends have recently become a thriving activity for art-lovers to visit galleries and look for art that may well grow in value in the years to come. And we're not just talking about tacky commercial art or run-of-the-mill copies but wading through the whole vastness of utter disparity before discerning the smart and selective panoply of meaningful art.
Eggs in different baskets has always been the general dictum but try this one now; a vast collection of nonsense; a sparse collection of substance. In simple language; is better to have in your hand 5-10 pieces of an artist of promise than 50-100 pieces of an artist whose mind seems to be going nowhere through the story of artistic evolution whether on canvas or board, clay or metal or any other form of expression. Eye catching art is simply not about one or two brilliant bursts and then a gradual fade out into the deeper realms of the nonsensical. Like Alberto Giacometti or an L.S. Lowry one can identify a continuing story in form that gathers force of meaning and becomes enriched and emboldened in time. With Giacometti and his sculptures, for example, the history of his sculptures demonstrate the evolution of a concept of modern man, or mankind, and the viewer may pause and watch how the idea takes root in the artist's mind and stretches in imagination and vary in presentational form until the idea finally becomes completely refined in its purest form with a kaleidoscope of superior emotional evocations. Thus, as the saying goes, a sparse collection of a few modest pieces taken from a well-defined theme and shaped with continuity often stands a far better chance of accumulation of artistic merit than a vast disparate field of ideas hitting out in all directions, some with radiant brilliance and some with dull monotony.
A composer intoning 7 notes all at once in a sudden burst of sound becomes nothing less than a reverberating 'noise' unlike a masterful Mozart who may delicately weave such notes to the point of selective emphasis down to the very second by second basis. Evolutionary art that accumulates value in time is like a tree that plants its roots firmly in the soil and grows its trunk and stretches out it's boughs into the sky. A Picasso moving into his Blue Phase of reflection in 1902 would ponder over the poor; firmly implant the roots of his subject into the social issues of economic failure and watch the beggar in the streets become a trunk, notice the saddened faces by the table in the corner become a bough and touch upon such themes of mental anguish and silent despair etched upon the faces that come and go in glimpses and phases that become the artistic leaves of creation whether in Paris or Barcelona. Art of value is a story of evolution. Furthermore the story of evolution could become the basis of acquisition and collection for future value.
Modern portfolio theory is the basis of investment for the purpose of asset management across several classes. Investors seeking to increase the value of their wealth seek to acquire such items likes equities or bonds, commodities and lands which not only preserve monetary value but enhances their financial capabilities in the future. Classical economic theory confirms the function of store of wealth as a prerequisite for value to grow. That theory would require the negation of inflation which erodes the current and future value of an asset. For those of my readers that are already familiar with the markets and the financial world of investment it may come as surprise that I should be discussing the value of art set amongst other traditional classes of investment. However, given the historical significance of a Rembrandt and the inability of mankind to reproduce another item that would come anywhere near the semblance of the original master's hand, then indeed, art, like the cut of a precious stone, would confirm it's own uniqueness of asset class upon the basis of it's rarity.
Eggs in different baskets has always been the general dictum but try this one now; a vast collection of nonsense; a sparse collection of substance. In simple language; is better to have in your hand 5-10 pieces of an artist of promise than 50-100 pieces of an artist whose mind seems to be going nowhere through the story of artistic evolution whether on canvas or board, clay or metal or any other form of expression. Eye catching art is simply not about one or two brilliant bursts and then a gradual fade out into the deeper realms of the nonsensical. Like Alberto Giacometti or an L.S. Lowry one can identify a continuing story in form that gathers force of meaning and becomes enriched and emboldened in time. With Giacometti and his sculptures, for example, the history of his sculptures demonstrate the evolution of a concept of modern man, or mankind, and the viewer may pause and watch how the idea takes root in the artist's mind and stretches in imagination and vary in presentational form until the idea finally becomes completely refined in its purest form with a kaleidoscope of superior emotional evocations. Thus, as the saying goes, a sparse collection of a few modest pieces taken from a well-defined theme and shaped with continuity often stands a far better chance of accumulation of artistic merit than a vast disparate field of ideas hitting out in all directions, some with radiant brilliance and some with dull monotony.
A composer intoning 7 notes all at once in a sudden burst of sound becomes nothing less than a reverberating 'noise' unlike a masterful Mozart who may delicately weave such notes to the point of selective emphasis down to the very second by second basis. Evolutionary art that accumulates value in time is like a tree that plants its roots firmly in the soil and grows its trunk and stretches out it's boughs into the sky. A Picasso moving into his Blue Phase of reflection in 1902 would ponder over the poor; firmly implant the roots of his subject into the social issues of economic failure and watch the beggar in the streets become a trunk, notice the saddened faces by the table in the corner become a bough and touch upon such themes of mental anguish and silent despair etched upon the faces that come and go in glimpses and phases that become the artistic leaves of creation whether in Paris or Barcelona. Art of value is a story of evolution. Furthermore the story of evolution could become the basis of acquisition and collection for future value.
Modern portfolio theory is the basis of investment for the purpose of asset management across several classes. Investors seeking to increase the value of their wealth seek to acquire such items likes equities or bonds, commodities and lands which not only preserve monetary value but enhances their financial capabilities in the future. Classical economic theory confirms the function of store of wealth as a prerequisite for value to grow. That theory would require the negation of inflation which erodes the current and future value of an asset. For those of my readers that are already familiar with the markets and the financial world of investment it may come as surprise that I should be discussing the value of art set amongst other traditional classes of investment. However, given the historical significance of a Rembrandt and the inability of mankind to reproduce another item that would come anywhere near the semblance of the original master's hand, then indeed, art, like the cut of a precious stone, would confirm it's own uniqueness of asset class upon the basis of it's rarity.
Let us just take a moment for reflection upon art of Michelangelo and the fresco - The Creation of Adam, which is located in Rome on the Sistine Chapel's ceiling and was painted circa 1511–1512. In all our triumphs and modern capabilities would we ever come anywhere near to replicating the master's unique gift of the illustration the Biblical story of creation taken from the Book of Genesis?
Well one would suppose that a house in Clapham or a cottage in le Midi or Tuscany could be knocked down and another pile of bricks could be erected just as easily and eloquently. Or one could simply sell a stock holding of Apple Inc and replace the value with another holding in Nestle or perhaps Total? Buy a bond sell a bond, the store of value simply transfers from one lot to another. but in all this understanding of the interchangeability of assets and retention of value it certainly begs the question: can one actually sell a Picasso and find equal monetary satisfaction in another work of art not considering the loss or gain of personal satisfaction associated with transferring value? If such were the case then surely for the rarest of collectibles; the fine arts of a Gainsborough or an actual piece of Rodin would not command a significant monetary value were the association of uniqueness as readily inter-changeable amongst collectors. In the final analysis of fine art within the context of modern portfolio theory and financial investment we would need a serious reconsideration of the true meaning of the value of genius.
Genius is not replaceable and not interchangeable and therefore fine art becomes an asset class of significant desirability amongst the astute investors of the world today. Genius becomes the milestone of achievement in the story of civilizations and humanity. A sparse collection of substance can have far more universal value that a vast collection of nonsense.
Genius is not replaceable and not interchangeable and therefore fine art becomes an asset class of significant desirability amongst the astute investors of the world today. Genius becomes the milestone of achievement in the story of civilizations and humanity. A sparse collection of substance can have far more universal value that a vast collection of nonsense.
Reflections upon fine art by Pieter Bergli
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Thank you
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